There are several stories related to the name Chitralekha:
Here is one of then :
Usha Parinayam:
Chitralekha is a character in the story "Usha Parinayam" ( or marriage of Usha) . This is the story of Usha, a daitya princess, daughter of king Banasura ( the king of Asuras, Banasura is the son of King Bali and the grandson of Prahlada) and how she got married to Anniruddha the grandson of Krishna.
Banasura was a great Siva devotee and obtained a boon from Siva that he would be invinsible and Lord Siva would gaurd his city. Banasura became arrongant after he received his boon and tried to fight with Siva himself. Siva tells him that he would face defeat and humiliation when the flagstaff on his chariot falls and it would happen at the hands of someone who is interested in his daughter.
So Banasura keeps his daughter captive in his palace and does not allow anyone to see her. Once
Usha sees a handsome man in her dreams and decides that she would like to marry him. But no one is sure if he is real or imaginary. So she describes him to her friend Chitralekha, who paints pictures of several men, and finally finds out who Usha's dream man was . It is none other than Anniruddha, the grandson of Krishna and son of Pradhumna.
Usha implores Chitralekha to bring Anniruddha to her, so she Chitralekha uses her magical powers to abduct Prince Anniruddha in his sleep and bring him to Usha's palace.
Anniruddha and Usha fall for each other, and spend many happy hours together, when Banasura discovers that a young prince is with Usha. He sends gaurds to capture him, but the prince defeats his assailants. But ultimately Banasure captures Anniruddha with his magical and Asura powers makes him his prisoner
Narada informs Krishna in Dwaraka of these developments. Krishna, Pradyumna and Balarama set forth to Sonitapura ( in modern Assam) to rescue Anniruddha and a huge war ensues. Banasura is a formidable enemy, and is also aided by Siva who protectsthe city as a boon to Banasura. but after severe fighting on both sides, the flag staff on Banasura's chariot falls just as Siva predicted foretelling the defeat and humiliation of Banasura.
Krishna cuts off Banasura's limbs ( he has a thousand limbs) and keeps only four of them intact. Krishna does not kill Banasura since he had promised Prahlada that he would always protect his descendants.
Finally Banasura defeated and humiliated , gives his Daughter Usha in marriage to Anniruddha.
Anniruddha takes Usha back to Dwaraka with him.
They have a son by name Vajra.
.
FYI : Aniruddha (Sanskrit:अनिरुद्ध) means uncontrolled or "without obstacles".
Showing posts with label Interesting stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interesting stories. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Interesting story of the origin of Tillotama
The following Narratation by Narada involves the story of Tilottama and how she came into being.
This interesting story is actually one of the side stories from the Mahabharata and is retold by Narada to the Pandavas around the time that they are given half of the kingdom and asked to go settle down in their new capital Khadavaprastha.
During the time that Khandavaprastha was being established, the Pandavas had a lot of visitors to help them, including Krishna and Viswakarma. Sometime after this, the Divine Sage Narada also visits them.
The Sage Narada spends some time with Yudishtra, instructing him on the art of administration and kingship. This is the time that Narada is also introduced to Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas.
When Narada sees Draupadi, he is reminded of the story of Tillotama and how her beauty caused two very loving brothers to fight and kill each other.
He proceeds to narrate this story to the Pandavas and Draupadi so that they could learn from it..
Narada says "It is a well known fact that even the closest friends or relatives can become bitter enemies if they desire the same woman.
In ancient times, there were two Asura brothers named Sundha and Upasundha, who were inseparable. Their brotherly devotion was extraordinary. They defeated the Devas and sent them into hiding. They desired immortality and performed a penance with this motive, directed towards Lord Brahma . When the Lord appeared before them, they wanted the boon of immortality. However, that boon could not be granted, so the Lord asked them instead to choose their mode of death. Since the brothers were so sure of their devotion to each other, they sought the boon that the only way death could approach them was if they killed each other. When Indra came to know of this fact, he knew that he had an opening. He commissioned his divine architect Vishwakarma to create the most beautiful woman in the world. According to Brahma's advice, Vishwakarma collected a crore (10 million) gems, and taking a small part (equal to that of one sesame seed) from each of these flawless gems, he created the beautiful Tilottama (Sanskrit Thila=Sesame), and sent her to seduce the Asura brothers. When Sundha and Upasundha beheld this woman, their desire knew no bounds and each of them wanted her for himself. A quarrel immediately arose. The brothers fought and ended up killing each other. Let their story be a warning to you."
and thus ended the narration of the story of Tilottama by Narada to Yudhishtra in the Mahabharat
This interesting story is actually one of the side stories from the Mahabharata and is retold by Narada to the Pandavas around the time that they are given half of the kingdom and asked to go settle down in their new capital Khadavaprastha.
During the time that Khandavaprastha was being established, the Pandavas had a lot of visitors to help them, including Krishna and Viswakarma. Sometime after this, the Divine Sage Narada also visits them.
The Sage Narada spends some time with Yudishtra, instructing him on the art of administration and kingship. This is the time that Narada is also introduced to Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas.
When Narada sees Draupadi, he is reminded of the story of Tillotama and how her beauty caused two very loving brothers to fight and kill each other.
He proceeds to narrate this story to the Pandavas and Draupadi so that they could learn from it..
Narada says "It is a well known fact that even the closest friends or relatives can become bitter enemies if they desire the same woman.
In ancient times, there were two Asura brothers named Sundha and Upasundha, who were inseparable. Their brotherly devotion was extraordinary. They defeated the Devas and sent them into hiding. They desired immortality and performed a penance with this motive, directed towards Lord Brahma . When the Lord appeared before them, they wanted the boon of immortality. However, that boon could not be granted, so the Lord asked them instead to choose their mode of death. Since the brothers were so sure of their devotion to each other, they sought the boon that the only way death could approach them was if they killed each other. When Indra came to know of this fact, he knew that he had an opening. He commissioned his divine architect Vishwakarma to create the most beautiful woman in the world. According to Brahma's advice, Vishwakarma collected a crore (10 million) gems, and taking a small part (equal to that of one sesame seed) from each of these flawless gems, he created the beautiful Tilottama (Sanskrit Thila=Sesame), and sent her to seduce the Asura brothers. When Sundha and Upasundha beheld this woman, their desire knew no bounds and each of them wanted her for himself. A quarrel immediately arose. The brothers fought and ended up killing each other. Let their story be a warning to you."
and thus ended the narration of the story of Tilottama by Narada to Yudhishtra in the Mahabharat
From Panchatantra.......
We wanted to re write one of the stories from Panchatantra and have it enacted by kids for the 2008 Ugadi function in Austin.
The following is a writeup for the "United we Stand" Pigeon Story from Mitra laabam from the Panchatantra : this was accompanied by a slide show and was a precurser to the actual ballet that was enacted by kids at the Telugu Cultural Association of Austin in Apr 2008
Writeup :
The original Sanskrit text of "Panchatantra" was written by Pandit Vishnu Sharma around 200 BC, and contained a collection of popular tales. Each of these stories has a moral that continues to be relevant to this
day.
The following story is taken from the second “Tantra” called “Mitrasamprapti of the Panchatantra and sheds light on the importance of friendship and Unity.
‘United we stand”
Here is a story extolling the virtues of a wise Pigeon King named Chitragreeva , who saves his subjects from a hunter by proposing that they tackle the problem unitedly.
‘Chitragreeva” ( name of the pigeon king) and his group of pigeons/doves were flying together in search of grain.
They had traveled long and hard looking for some grain, and finally one of pigeons spots a lot of grain scattered underneath a banyan tree.
“Chitragreeva” tries to caution his team of pigeons from flying down to the grain because it just didn’t seem right and could be trap.
But is team was tired and hungry, so they just flew down to eat the grain.
As “Chitragreeva’ suspected, it was no ordinary reason that there was so much grain scattered in plain sight, a hunter had set a trap for the birds.
As soon as the hunter sees all the doves he throws a net on them and is about to pick them all up,
The birds struggle only to get more entangled in the net. “Chitragreeva” asks his team to remain calm and do exactly as he says.
,He thinks fast and decides that the best way is for them to play dead. He whispers to his team to play dead, as the hunter comes to pick each bird from the net.
The hunter is surprised and puzzled when each time he tries to pick a bird from the net it looks dead.
He starts to wonder if the grain was poisoned. As he is thinking about it, “Chitragreeva’ asks his team to all flap their wings at once and fly away with the net. They do as they are told and their combined flying force making it easy for all of them to fly away with the net
The hunter chases after them shocked, and surprised at their cleverness and deception. but he is unable to catch them.
They fly away to a far of place where a Chitragreeva’s friend “Hiranyaka” the mouse lives.
When the Hiranyaka hears the loud noise of their approach, he goes into hiding. The dove king Chitragreeva gently calls out to him and then the mouse Hiranyaka realizes that it is friend Chitrsgreeva , he comes out.
Chitragreeva explains that he and his subjects had been caught in a trap and they need Hiranyaka’s help to gnaw at the net with his teeth and set them free.
Hiranyaka agrees and proceeds to free Chitragreeva the dove king first.
The Nobel king Chitragreeva insists that he Hiranyaka , the mouse, free his subjects first and himself last. The Hiranyaka understands and applauds the king's feelings and complies with his wishes. He begins to cut the net and one by one all the doves are freed, including his friend Chitragreeva, the dove/pigeon king.
All the doves are very happy to be free and thank Hiranyaka the Mouse and their king “Chitragreeva”, who tells them that it is always important to listen to words of wisdom and act with caution.
He also asks them to always remain united.
Because being United, they will always be able to fight their way out of adverse situations.
The following is a writeup for the "United we Stand" Pigeon Story from Mitra laabam from the Panchatantra : this was accompanied by a slide show and was a precurser to the actual ballet that was enacted by kids at the Telugu Cultural Association of Austin in Apr 2008
Writeup :
The original Sanskrit text of "Panchatantra" was written by Pandit Vishnu Sharma around 200 BC, and contained a collection of popular tales. Each of these stories has a moral that continues to be relevant to this
day.
The following story is taken from the second “Tantra” called “Mitrasamprapti of the Panchatantra and sheds light on the importance of friendship and Unity.
‘United we stand”
Here is a story extolling the virtues of a wise Pigeon King named Chitragreeva , who saves his subjects from a hunter by proposing that they tackle the problem unitedly.
‘Chitragreeva” ( name of the pigeon king) and his group of pigeons/doves were flying together in search of grain.
They had traveled long and hard looking for some grain, and finally one of pigeons spots a lot of grain scattered underneath a banyan tree.
“Chitragreeva” tries to caution his team of pigeons from flying down to the grain because it just didn’t seem right and could be trap.
But is team was tired and hungry, so they just flew down to eat the grain.
As “Chitragreeva’ suspected, it was no ordinary reason that there was so much grain scattered in plain sight, a hunter had set a trap for the birds.
As soon as the hunter sees all the doves he throws a net on them and is about to pick them all up,
The birds struggle only to get more entangled in the net. “Chitragreeva” asks his team to remain calm and do exactly as he says.
,He thinks fast and decides that the best way is for them to play dead. He whispers to his team to play dead, as the hunter comes to pick each bird from the net.
The hunter is surprised and puzzled when each time he tries to pick a bird from the net it looks dead.
He starts to wonder if the grain was poisoned. As he is thinking about it, “Chitragreeva’ asks his team to all flap their wings at once and fly away with the net. They do as they are told and their combined flying force making it easy for all of them to fly away with the net
The hunter chases after them shocked, and surprised at their cleverness and deception. but he is unable to catch them.
They fly away to a far of place where a Chitragreeva’s friend “Hiranyaka” the mouse lives.
When the Hiranyaka hears the loud noise of their approach, he goes into hiding. The dove king Chitragreeva gently calls out to him and then the mouse Hiranyaka realizes that it is friend Chitrsgreeva , he comes out.
Chitragreeva explains that he and his subjects had been caught in a trap and they need Hiranyaka’s help to gnaw at the net with his teeth and set them free.
Hiranyaka agrees and proceeds to free Chitragreeva the dove king first.
The Nobel king Chitragreeva insists that he Hiranyaka , the mouse, free his subjects first and himself last. The Hiranyaka understands and applauds the king's feelings and complies with his wishes. He begins to cut the net and one by one all the doves are freed, including his friend Chitragreeva, the dove/pigeon king.
All the doves are very happy to be free and thank Hiranyaka the Mouse and their king “Chitragreeva”, who tells them that it is always important to listen to words of wisdom and act with caution.
He also asks them to always remain united.
Because being United, they will always be able to fight their way out of adverse situations.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Mahabharata : The beginning
BHAGAVAN VYASA, the celebrated compiler of the Vedas, was the son of the great sage Parasara. It was he who gave to the world the divine epic of the Mahabharata.
Having conceived the Mahabharata he thought of the means of giving the sacred story to the world. He meditated on Brahma, the Creator, who manifested himself before him
Vyasa then asks Brahma for help to find someone who could pen the Mahabarata for him. Brahma asks him to meditate on Lord Ganapati.
Lord Ganapati agrees to write the Mahabharat as Vyasa dictates, provided his pen would never stop ie: There was no pause in the narration
Vyasa agrees but with a counter proposition. As long as Lord Ganapati understood the meaning of the slokas before he wrote them down, Vyasa would keep up his end of the bargain, and so the Mahabharata got to be written, on the banks for River Saraswati, with Vyasa composing the poems and Lord Ganapati writing it down but only after understanding them, thereby giving ample time for Vyasa to compose some more.
A side tale to this, is River Saraswati flows very rapidly at the place where Vyasa chose to sit with Lord Ganapati to write the Mahabharata, high up in the Himalayas, close to Badrinath. Its flow here was often disturbing to both of them. They asked her to flow more slowly, but she being young and restless did not listen. It is said that Vyasa was enraged one day when she was making too much noise and caused her to disappear into the underground.
To this day at the Vyasa cave close to Bhadrinath, we see Saraswati gushing out of cave ( very noisily and then just as quickly disappearing into the underground, as a result.
So coming back to the beautiful story of Mahabharat,.Here is the cronological order in which it came to be passed on to all of us.
It was conceived by Vyasa , written by Lord Ganapati and first narrated by Vyasa to his son Suka maha rishi. Suka maharishi is supposed to have revealed this to Gandharvas, Raskshasas and Yakshas. Narada revealed it to the Devas. And then, Vaisampayana a great disciple of Vyasa spread this to the rest of humanity. He did this first at the Snake Sacrifice held by King Janamejaya. Suta maharishi learnt of it at the snake sacrifice and then on his way to Naimisha aranya he narrated it to other assembled rishis. Thus it was spread it to the rest of the world.
The interesting piece here is that, it is the first flashback story ever written as well, since, it starts with the Snake Sacrifice or Sarpa Yagam conducted by King Janamejaya ( a descendent of the Pandavas).
King Janamejaya is the son of Parikshit ( the grandson of Arjuna thru Abhimanyu). After the war, and after the Pandavas left their Kingdom and after the death of Sri Krishna, Parikshit is appointed king. He was a fair and just ruler, but one day, during a hunting trip he gets further away from his companions. Searching high and low for them and feeling very Thirsty he stumbles on to an Ashram of a Rishi. The Rishi is in meditation and does not answer any of his queries as he is in deep samadhi. Tired, hungry and Thirsty, king Parikshit is enraged, and he finds a dead snake nearby and rolls it around the rishi’s neck. The Rishi wakes up just as enraged, and curses Parikshit telling him that he will die in 7 days thru a snake bite . And true to the rishi’s words in 7 days the King is killed by a snake prince named “Takshak”, who is hidden inside a lemon.
On hearing the curse and being very afraid for his life, king Parikshit is supposed to have hid inside a a fort and locked himself up in a seven storey building but in vain since, the snake got to him via a lemon and killed him.
During those 7 days, Parikshit is said to have became extremely spiritual and he heard the Bhagavatam for the first time, extolling Lord Krishna., This is the first time that Bhagavatam as we know it was narrated to humanity .
But after Parikshit’s death, his son Janamejaya wanted to avenge his father’s untimely demise and therefore conducts what is called a “Sarpa Yagam” or Snake Sacrifice in which all snakes big and small were to be killed.
The goal was to find Takshak the snake that actually killed Parikshit but Takshak had sought help from Indira, the ruler of heaven.
Janamejaya was informed of this by a person named Astika ( who was born of a brahmin and a Naga women). Janamejaya was so pleased to learn of Takshak’s whereabouts from Astika, that he promised Astika a boon, anything he wanted. Astika said that he would ask for the boon but at a later time when he really needed it.
So Janamejaya is able to with the help of Mantras find Takshak and is ready to burn him in the sacrificial fire when, Astika came forward to stop him. He asks for his boon at this opportune time The boon is for Janamejaya to set Takshak , the prince of naga’s free and maintain a friendly relationship with the Naga’s from here on out.
Even though Janamejaya pleads with Astika, he does not budge from his request.
So ultimately Janamejaya has to give in and free Takshak ( Kal Yuga was by the way ushered in by Takshak) when he killed Parikshit.
So Janamejaya even though he is still tormented,since his sacrifice was incomplete asks Vyasa’s help to understand his ancesters better. Vyasa asked Vaisampayana ( his favourite disciple) to narrate the details of the Mahabharata and the story of the Pandavas to Janamejaya. And So it happened that the Mahabharata was narrated for the first time to King Janamejaya and the Brahmins who were present at the Snake sacrifice or “Sarpa Yagam”.
This was heard by Suta maharishi who then on his way back from the snake sacrifice narrated it again this time to assembled rishis in Naimisha aranya.
Having conceived the Mahabharata he thought of the means of giving the sacred story to the world. He meditated on Brahma, the Creator, who manifested himself before him
Vyasa then asks Brahma for help to find someone who could pen the Mahabarata for him. Brahma asks him to meditate on Lord Ganapati.
Lord Ganapati agrees to write the Mahabharat as Vyasa dictates, provided his pen would never stop ie: There was no pause in the narration
Vyasa agrees but with a counter proposition. As long as Lord Ganapati understood the meaning of the slokas before he wrote them down, Vyasa would keep up his end of the bargain, and so the Mahabharata got to be written, on the banks for River Saraswati, with Vyasa composing the poems and Lord Ganapati writing it down but only after understanding them, thereby giving ample time for Vyasa to compose some more.
A side tale to this, is River Saraswati flows very rapidly at the place where Vyasa chose to sit with Lord Ganapati to write the Mahabharata, high up in the Himalayas, close to Badrinath. Its flow here was often disturbing to both of them. They asked her to flow more slowly, but she being young and restless did not listen. It is said that Vyasa was enraged one day when she was making too much noise and caused her to disappear into the underground.
To this day at the Vyasa cave close to Bhadrinath, we see Saraswati gushing out of cave ( very noisily and then just as quickly disappearing into the underground, as a result.
So coming back to the beautiful story of Mahabharat,.Here is the cronological order in which it came to be passed on to all of us.
It was conceived by Vyasa , written by Lord Ganapati and first narrated by Vyasa to his son Suka maha rishi. Suka maharishi is supposed to have revealed this to Gandharvas, Raskshasas and Yakshas. Narada revealed it to the Devas. And then, Vaisampayana a great disciple of Vyasa spread this to the rest of humanity. He did this first at the Snake Sacrifice held by King Janamejaya. Suta maharishi learnt of it at the snake sacrifice and then on his way to Naimisha aranya he narrated it to other assembled rishis. Thus it was spread it to the rest of the world.
The interesting piece here is that, it is the first flashback story ever written as well, since, it starts with the Snake Sacrifice or Sarpa Yagam conducted by King Janamejaya ( a descendent of the Pandavas).
King Janamejaya is the son of Parikshit ( the grandson of Arjuna thru Abhimanyu). After the war, and after the Pandavas left their Kingdom and after the death of Sri Krishna, Parikshit is appointed king. He was a fair and just ruler, but one day, during a hunting trip he gets further away from his companions. Searching high and low for them and feeling very Thirsty he stumbles on to an Ashram of a Rishi. The Rishi is in meditation and does not answer any of his queries as he is in deep samadhi. Tired, hungry and Thirsty, king Parikshit is enraged, and he finds a dead snake nearby and rolls it around the rishi’s neck. The Rishi wakes up just as enraged, and curses Parikshit telling him that he will die in 7 days thru a snake bite . And true to the rishi’s words in 7 days the King is killed by a snake prince named “Takshak”, who is hidden inside a lemon.
On hearing the curse and being very afraid for his life, king Parikshit is supposed to have hid inside a a fort and locked himself up in a seven storey building but in vain since, the snake got to him via a lemon and killed him.
During those 7 days, Parikshit is said to have became extremely spiritual and he heard the Bhagavatam for the first time, extolling Lord Krishna., This is the first time that Bhagavatam as we know it was narrated to humanity .
But after Parikshit’s death, his son Janamejaya wanted to avenge his father’s untimely demise and therefore conducts what is called a “Sarpa Yagam” or Snake Sacrifice in which all snakes big and small were to be killed.
The goal was to find Takshak the snake that actually killed Parikshit but Takshak had sought help from Indira, the ruler of heaven.
Janamejaya was informed of this by a person named Astika ( who was born of a brahmin and a Naga women). Janamejaya was so pleased to learn of Takshak’s whereabouts from Astika, that he promised Astika a boon, anything he wanted. Astika said that he would ask for the boon but at a later time when he really needed it.
So Janamejaya is able to with the help of Mantras find Takshak and is ready to burn him in the sacrificial fire when, Astika came forward to stop him. He asks for his boon at this opportune time The boon is for Janamejaya to set Takshak , the prince of naga’s free and maintain a friendly relationship with the Naga’s from here on out.
Even though Janamejaya pleads with Astika, he does not budge from his request.
So ultimately Janamejaya has to give in and free Takshak ( Kal Yuga was by the way ushered in by Takshak) when he killed Parikshit.
So Janamejaya even though he is still tormented,since his sacrifice was incomplete asks Vyasa’s help to understand his ancesters better. Vyasa asked Vaisampayana ( his favourite disciple) to narrate the details of the Mahabharata and the story of the Pandavas to Janamejaya. And So it happened that the Mahabharata was narrated for the first time to King Janamejaya and the Brahmins who were present at the Snake sacrifice or “Sarpa Yagam”.
This was heard by Suta maharishi who then on his way back from the snake sacrifice narrated it again this time to assembled rishis in Naimisha aranya.
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